About Pam

A leading specialist on American wines from organic and biodynamic vineyards, Pam Strayer is the author and publisher of 7 apps as well as forthcoming new web sites and books for the wine industry and consumers. She also consults to organic and Biodynamic producers and organizations on marketing, strategy and communications.

She is currently organizing a webinar for Women of the Vine & Spirits that will be held on Oct. 18th on the organic and Biodynamic sector of the wine industry (open to WOTVS members as well as the public) and writing an article for Beverage Media called "Green Wine: Where Are We Now." She is also working on new books, Organically Napa, and Organically Sonoma, to be published along with a new newsletter.

2018

Pam served as the Conference Program Director for the first International Biodynamic Wine Conference, held in San Francisco's Presidio Park on May 6-7, 2018. The historic event brought together hundreds of participants (winemakers, vineyard managers, scientists, sommeliers, and others) in the world's largest gathering of Biodynamic wine professionals.

She also wrote the program guide for the Grand Tasting, featuring 47 wineries and more than 130 wines. (Bob Johnson contributed the lovely illustrations).

In March, Pam wrote an article about the glyphosate cases currently pending in federal and state courts which was published in Civil Eats and then picked up by PRI (which made it one of the most popular articles online on these cases).

She was also an invited speaker in Napa and Sonoma at the request of local environmentalists. She helps communities understand the pesticides being used on vineyards in their areas, helping them understand how to use public information data and maps to see what's being used near schools and their homes.

She also served as a board member on the Stellar Certification Services board in the winter and spring of 2018.

WINE

Pam earned a certificate in wine studies at U. C. Berkeley, She has also studied and taken classes at U.C. Davis and with the North American Sommelier Association.

COMMUNICATIONS BACKGROUND

A former environmental journalist, Pam won a New England Press Association award for her coverage on Maine Yankee nuclear power plant and remains a member of the Society of Environmental Journalists. She has consulted to environmental groups including UN Environmental Award winner Huey Johnson and his Resource Renewal Institute and the 50 environmental groups in David Brower's Earth Island Institute in Berkeley.

She has also produced dozens of films for Apple, PBS, Turner, and others and created major, pioineering interactive projects for Apple and Intel. Other clients include Jerry Garcia, the Dalai Lama, and the office of the UN Sec. General.

A Demeter USA short course at Maysara in
McMinnville in Oregon's Willamette Valley

HEALTH COMMUNICATIONS

A health journalist in the 1990's, Pam was the editor in chief of Healthcentral.com, DNA.com and DNADirect.com as well as editor and site producer for dozens of other clients including the California Medical Association and Time Warner Cable's interactive television channel on health. More recently, in 2017 she worked on online projects for the Stanford School of Medicine and the Stanford Cancer Institute.

Pam has worked closely with leading epidemiologists, health behavior change experts, and a wide array of genetics researchers from Harvard, Stanford, and Johns Hopkins with whom she launched WebMD's two channels on genetics (one for consumers and one for physicians).

A communicator who put health risks into perspective on many fronts, she became aware of the impacts to human, plant and animal health from conventional and "sustainable" vineyard farming practices.

In response, she decided to try a wine drinking experiment that would explore what "sacrifices" might be involved in drinking wine only from certified vines. She found more than 1,300 in the U.S. alone with a higher than average proportion of America's finest wines represented. (But she also drinks outside that box).

WINE WRITING

As a wine writer, Pam was a two time attendee of the Wine Writers Symposium in Napa and has written for Beverage Media Group, a wine merchant publication, and Wines & Vines, a leading magazine for the wine industry, as well as for Wine Enthusiast, reaching a wide consumer audience.

Described by Alder Yarrow (of JancisRobinson.com) as "the go to person on organic and Biodynamic wines," she has been featured on Carol Grieves podcast series Food Integrity Now, speaking about organic and Biodynamically grown wines, and her 2013 apps were featured (on Earth Day) in the Los Angeles Times.

Pam has also moderated events for Demeter USA for both the general public and industry audiences in California and Oregon. She's been a guest lecturer at Santa Rosa Community College and will be a guest speaker in a winemarketing class at Sonoma State University's Wine Business Institute in Sept.

Wines We Cover

We publish information about wines grown from certified organic or Biodynamic vineyards that are generally made with sulfites (which are usually added in small amounts to preserve the wine).

That includes these certification types:

ORGANIC WINE CERTIFICATIONS

• Made with Organic Grapes

Vineyards: certified organic

Vinification: less than 100 ppm of sulfites (i.e. a normal range)

Winery: certified organic facility

Labeling: front or back label

• Ingredients: Organic Grapes

Vineyards: certified organic

Vinification: up to 350 ppm of sulfites (same as for any non organic wine)

Labeling: back label only

BIODYNAMIC® CERTIFICATIONS

• Biodynamic Wine

Vineyards: certified biodynamic

Yeasts: native

Vinification: less than 100 ppm of sulfites; no additives of any kind

Winery: certified biodynamic facility

Labeling: front or back label; Demeter logo may appear

• Made with Biodynamic Grapes

Vineyards: certified biodynamic

Yeasts: native or organic

Vinification: less than 100 ppm of sulfites; limited number of additives permitted

Winery: certified biodynamic facility

Labeling: front or back

Note: unlike organically grown wines, for which there is a category called "Ingredients: Organic Grapes," wines sourced from biodynamic grapes may not make any biodynamic claim on the bottle label. Bottle labeling is reserved for Demeter certified wines only.

SULFITES IN CONTEXT

According to U.C. Davis, the average among all wines in the U.S. (as well as globally) is 80 ppm.

WHAT THE USDA CALLS ORGANIC WINES

Unlike any other nation, the U.S. oddly imposes a no sulfite restriction on wines in order for them to be called Organic Wine. These wines are also called NSA or NAS wines (which stands for "No Sulfites Added" or "No Added Sulfites.")

From the above description, one can see that there are in fact three types of organically grown wines:

1. Organic Wine (less than 15% of all organically grown wine)

2. Made with Organic Grapes

3. Ingredients: Organic Grapes

The vast majority of wines from organic grapes are labeled Made with Organic Grapes, Ingredients: Organic Grapes or are blended with nonorganic grapes and unlabeled.

Fine winemakers do not generally make wine without sulfites and a number of large wine retailers like BevMo do not sell wine in the category of "USDA Organic Wine."

With rare exceptions, this blog does not cover what the USDA calls "Organic Wine."

We are hopeful that the USDA will revise the categorization of organically grown wines and make NSA or NAS wines a category of their own.

This would put the U.S. in accord with the rest of the world, where "Organic Wine" means a wine from certified grapes made within limits on sulfites (generally under 100-150 ppm).